Subj : Our Solar System is facinating
To   : August Abolins
From : Charles Pierson
Date : Fri Nov 06 2020 09:38:52

Hello, August Abolins.
On 11/6/20 3:53 PM you wrote:

 AA> On 05/11/2020 10:56 p.m., Charles Pierson : August Abolins wrote:
 AA>>> I am reading that centaurs are small planetary systems that 
 AA>>> contain asteroids and dwarfs.
 CP>> "Centaurs are minor planets believed to have originated in the 
 CP>> Kuiper Belt in the outer solar system." Not systems.
 AA> My first hunt for info was just from the first page google results 
 AA> and the initial summaries.  Using the smartphone (tiny 2x2") 
 AA> screen, I was not interested to go further.

I can certainly understand that. Some websites are more mobile friendly than others.
 
 AA> I have not found anything that describes the apparent discrepancy 
 AA> of the two names taken from mythology when a centaur is generally 
 AA> some large monster and a dwarf is a smaller being.  Maybe the 
 AA> astronomers discovered centaurs first? And then when it came time 
 AA> for another term for the newly found larger objects - oops, they 
 AA> only had "dwarf" available?

From what I've read, the first centaur was discovered around 1920, they were recognized as a distinct population in 1977.

Dwarf planets classification seems to be an "official" designation from 2006.

However centaur isn't an official designation as far as I can tell by the IAU.

So of course that makes things as clear as mud.
 
 AA> Consider my BlackBerry 2x2" a Centaur. Your smartphone is probably 
 AA> a dwarf. :)
 AA> -- 
 AA>   ../|ug
 AA> --- TB(Stealth)/Win7  * Origin: nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - 
 AA> Finland (2:221/360.0)

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